According to Gallup’s most recent annual study, consumers view many professions as unethical. Without proper ethics, can a firm or person be seen as compassionate? And LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner says compassion matters.
Before turning to Weiner, consider these posts on ethics:
- Purpose-Driven Brands’ Marketing Lessons
- The Impact of Company Ethics on Consumer Behavior
- Ethical Selling: Not Necessarily an Oxymoron
- Misleading Marketing
Jeff Weiner Says Compassion Matters
Recently, Jeff Weiner — CEO of LinkedIn — gave a commencement speech at Wharton. The topic: compassion.
As an overview, these represent some highlights of Weiner’s speech. Available at Knowledge@Wharton. Then, we offer the full 20-minute video of the speech:
“I wasn’t very compassionate when I was your age. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t particularly compassionate until the latter stage of my career. And if it weren’t for learning the meaning and value of compassion, it’s likely I wouldn’t be on this stage today. So that’s what I’d like to talk to you about. The importance of being compassionate, and how it can change your career path, your company, and your life.”
“So I decided to change. I vowed that as long as I’d be responsible for managing other people, I would aspire to manage compassionately. That meant pausing, and being a spectator to my own thoughts, especially when getting emotional. It meant walking a mile in the other person’s shoes; and understanding their hopes, their fears, their strengths and their weaknesses. And it meant doing everything within my power to set them up to be successful.”
“I’ve now been practicing this approach for well over a decade. And I can tell you with absolute conviction that managing compassionately is not just a better way to build a team, it’s a better way to build a company. I’ll give you three examples based on my experience at LinkedIn.”